NEWS@IMAGING

Keeping you one step ahead

The Munich-based AL-KO AG, parent company of the internationally active AL-KO KOBER SE, has as of today acquired 75.04% of the shares in STEMMER IMAGING GmbH from the company's founder Wilhelm Stemmer. The successful management team acquired a share of 24.96% in the company as part of the transaction.

Stefan Kober of AL-KO AG with the management of STEMMER IMAGING at the signing of the contract. From left to right: Martin Kersting, Wilhelm Stemmer, Jutta Hermes, Stefan Kober and Christof Zollitsch.

AL-KO KOBER SE, founded in 1931 by Alois Kober as a small locksmith's workshop in Grosskötz near Günzburg in Bavarian Swabia, is today one of the leading suppliers of automotive technology, gardening implements and air-conditioning technology with a total of 45 locations and around 4,000 employees worldwide. Now in the third generation, the family-owned company is still run as its founder intended – with a constant striving towards quality, innovative spirit and sophisticated functionality coupled with contemporary design, comfort and reliability.

STEMMER IMAGING will form a self-contained division of the AL-KO Group alongside the existing segments of air conditioning, gardening technology and electronics.

Stefan Kober, president of AL-KO AG, said, "Industrial image processing technologies are an integral component of the increasing digitization and networking of industrial processes. By absorbing STEMMER IMAGING into the AL-KO Group we are taking a big step in our positioning in the Industry 4.0 environment."

Christof Zollitsch, managing partner of STEMMER IMAGING GmbH, said, "On behalf of the company's founder Wilhelm Stemmer and the entire workforce, I'm delighted to have found a partner in AL-KO that not only understands our company and our market, but also shares and fosters our economic goals and the associated growth potential."

STEMMER IMAGING will continue to be managed by the long-standing management team. Christof Zollitsch is responsible for sales, order processing, marketing and finance, while Martin Kersting takes care of technology, support, software development, production and information technology.

STEMMER IMAGING has been one of the leaders in the machine vision market since 1987. It is one of Europe's largest technology providers in this field. In 1997 STEMMER IMAGING presented Common Vision Blox (CVB), a powerful programming library for fast and reliable development and implementation of vision solutions, which has been deployed successfully throughout the world in more than 40,000 imaging applications in various industries.